I have just read Christopher Howse's article in roday's Daily Telegraph. At first I thought, 'Good
Heavens, a columnist who has read Kipling and knows what
he is talking about'. Then I got about
three-quarters of the way through and was brought up with a
round turn when I read ". . . are simply the boys at the naval
college in Stalky & Co," I still think that
Christopher H must have read his Kipling, but perhaps, in the
same way that Kipling, when he wasn't plagiarising, was dodgy
on verifying his references, Howse too hjust
hasn't verified his references.
Alastair Wilson
